Psalms 139:8
If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.
BSB
ASV
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there.
KJV
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
In devout thoughts such as these my soul, engrossed in the pursuit of truth, took its delight. For it seemed that the greatness of God so far surpassed the mental powers of His handiwork, that however far the limited mind of man might strain in the hazardous effort to define Him, the gap was not lessened between the finite nature which struggled and the boundless infinity that lay beyond its ken.
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. Filling the loftiest region with his yet loftier presence, Jehovah is in the heavenly place, at home, upon his throne. The ascent, if it were possible, would be unavailing for purposes of escape; it would, in fact, be a flying into the centre of the fire to avoid the heat. There would he be immediately confronted by the terrible personality of God. Note the abrupt words—"Thou, there." If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Jonah 2:2saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice.
leads to
The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me.
In my distress I cried to the LORD, and He answered me.
This poor man called out, and the LORD heard him; He saved him from all his troubles.
For great is Your loving devotion to me; You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol.
Through
Proverbs 15:11Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD—how much more the hearts of men!
leads to
would not God have discovered, since He knows the secrets of the heart?
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of men—
Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.
